"Linda Sivertsen is the greenest person I know. She was born green!"
        — Leeza Gibbons, on air, 2007

Living green has been a lifelong commitment and passion for Linda, whose mother dried and reused damp paper towels, sent her to school with organic wheat bread with the consistency of backyard mud pies, educated her about global warming, the dying oceans, and organic gardening, while redirecting the laundry outflow to their utility sink, where Mom became a one-woman bucket brigade nourishing their yard with washer/bath water. (When it rained, theirs was the only sudsy front yard in town!)

Linda began her writing career in the late 80’s, and wanted to shine a light on the causes she’d been taught were timely and of the utmost importance—saving the last stands of redwood groves, cleaning up the oceans, reducing CO2 emissions, and preserving the world’s diminishing top soils. But when she’d talk about these issues, people’s eyes would glaze over. Then Linda made the Celebrity Connection: 

“I knew readers wanted success tips. If I interviewed celebrities about how they’d achieved wealth and fame, and overcome things like incest, bulimia, and drug abuse, I believed I could capture people’s attention. Maybe then, I’d be able to slip in information about saving the last gray whale birthing spot, or why it’s good business to clean up pollution.”

Be sure to visit Linda's latest Green News & Tips.

Fortunately, Linda had VIP access. As a professional dog walker and pet sitter, she hung out with celebrities in their bathrobes every day when she’d pick up Ricky & Romeo in Beverly Hills, or Chewy & Tasha in Hollywood for their daily jogs. “People drop their formalities and embrace you when their favorite family member—their pup—waits by the door for two hours with his leash in his mouth before you arrive. I was living a reality show without the cameras (before anyone knew what that would mean), and was privy to incredible stories of healing that were going mostly untold.” Linda saw the darker side of La La Land as well, taking care of Brandon Lee’s cats the night he was killed on the set of The Crow, and warning Kato Katlin (a friend of a client) not to take the guesthouse job with Nicole Simpson, saying that, “House sitters tend to get embroiled in the very real dramas of whomever owns the big house,” something she had experienced on a small scale.

Despite the craziness (“hey, this is the global hub of the dramatic,” she says) most of Linda’s clients were “magical,” and after a vivid dream, she couldn’t wait to follow the dream’s instructions and publish their wisdom for a wide audience. Dogs or no dogs, other celebrities jumped on board. Linda especially sought out those who were using their time/resources to help save the natural world. Motivated by her enthusiasm, they in turn introduced her to scientists, activists, and leaders in the field. As her awareness about the issues expanded, so too did Linda’s ever-present passion and commitment to make “environmental education through entertainment” her life’s work. 

By this time, Linda had sold her business, and she and her now ex-husband built their solar cabin in the forest of New Mexico. Linda helped teach at their son’s local two-room schoolhouse while completing the book. She couldn’t even call her agent or the celebs she was interviewing from the remoteness of their cabin, but it was worth the years of effort. Lives Charmed: Intimate Conversations with Extraordinary People (HCI, 1998) offered chapters on Woody Harrelson getting himself arrested on behalf of the redwoods and Julia Butterfly Hill’s record-breaking tree sit, Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith’s tireless efforts to enact the Dolphin Safe Tuna Act, and how Wyland’s life-sized whale murals have brought global attention to the plight of these threatened species, for starters. The book was enthusiastically covered on CNN, Extra, E!, in widespread print media, and on local and national talk shows for over a year (hence, bringing the family mostly back to L.A.). Radio hosts especially loved publicizing the fact that Linda wrote from 365 undeveloped acres that she and her family saved from poachers, and that they lived 100% off the grid—catching rainwater from the roof, using an outhouse in below-freezing temperatures, powering her computer with solar panels, and using fallen trees as their only source of heat. Linda’s greatest career joy came in 2000, when Earth Island Journal gave her an award for “Raising the stakes & raising hope for a world with a future.”

Co-authoring books and ghostwriting for celebrities followed, and in 2001 Linda became the West Coast Editor of Balance magazine, where she continues interviewing amazing women and writing the magazine’s cover stories. While her editor sends her on non-environmental assignments (…going to NY to cover Paula Zahn’s September 11th anniversary with CNN … talking with Sally Field about her hit show, Brothers and Sisters … publicizing movie mogul Sherry Lansing’s ‘07 honorary Oscar), she especially looks forward to the interviews with celebs like Alanis Morissette (on narrating The Great Warming with Keanu Reeves), supermodel Carol Alt (about her 99% raw food diet), and actress Linda Evans (about banning together with locals in Washington to run environmental polluters out of town).

Immensely relieved that green is the new black (better late than never!), a project Linda’s had in the works for years—an environmental/celebrity column—is about to launch (stay tuned). “It’s an invitation to discover a different kind of balance: living more harmoniously with the planet,” Linda says. “It’s also an opportunity to hear how even one person can make a big difference, with advice on how every one of us can take small but significant steps toward living green.”